Gulf wars

by William Bole

Media vs. orthodoxy vs. progressives vs. politicans vs. indifference

Three prominent journalists who’ve made religion their beat met in a Devlin Hall lecture room on October 23 for an early-evening forum titled “Writing about Religion in a Polarized Age.” Rod Dreher, senior editor of the American Conservative, a political magazine; Mark Oppenheimer, religion columnist for the New York Times and the 2014–15 holder of the Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations at Boston College; and Sarah Posner, senior correspondent for the independent online journal Religion Dispatches, were joined by moderator Alan Wolfe, political scientist and director of the University’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, which sponsored the event.

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Dreher, a self-described conservative Christian (“orthodox” with a capital “O” in his case; he is a Catholic convert to Eastern Orthodoxy) and the first presenter, wasted no time in getting to the “polarized” aspect of the forum’s topic, as he addressed the gulf between conservative Christians and liberal media professionals.

“From a religious perspective, there’s probably no issue that’s harder [for conservatives] to talk about and harder for liberals to understand than the orthodox point of view on sexuality,” said Dreher, who is based in south Louisiana and writes a high-profile blog for the Washington, D.C.–based American Conservative. (He did not spell out that view on this occasion but made it clear he was referring to traditional Christian teachings on questions such as homosexuality and marriage. “The divinely sanctioned union of male and female is an icon of the relationship of Christ to His church and ultimately of God to His creation,” he blogged in 2013.) Dreher ventured that the vast majority of liberal commentators regard this perspective as “bigotry, straight up,” especially when it comes to same-sex marriage. Religious conservatives must “prove from the very beginning that we aren’t haters, in order to be listened to,” he said.

Dreher attributed this clash to starkly differing approaches to religion. “To the orthodox, religion stands outside of time and culture, and humans have to conform our understanding and behavior to its principles,” he said. “To the progressives, religion changes to suit our changing needs and changing times in society. For [progressives] the truth claims of religion are far more malleable than they are for the orthodox.”

Oppenheimer took up the “writing” aspect of the event’s title. In doing so, he challenged Dreher’s assumption that “journalism defaults to secular liberalism” (Oppenheimer’s words). The New York Times writer allowed that most journalists might well be secular liberals, but he added, “I think journalism as a practice defaults to a kind of Enlightenment empiricism, which means we’re supposed to work from evidence.” Reporters, he said, don’t or shouldn’t accept a religious leader’s assertions as gospel truth any more than they would take, on faith, what a politician or athlete says.

According to Oppenheimer, most journalists “bend over backwards with backflips” to neutrally report religious “truth claims” (for example, about whether the Bible forbids sex outside of marriage), to avoid admitting a secular bias. “The problem with coverage of religion is not that it’s too critical, but that it’s way too soft,” he said. Turning to Dreher, who sat immediately to his left, he summed up his case in the most affable tone possible: “If I read you correctly, you’re completely wrong.” The two men laughed.

Posner, the third presenter, said that writing at the intersection of religion and politics is especially vexing because the two subjects so often overlap and color each other. “I am deeply committed to respecting the religious beliefs of people who make religious claims” about the morality of practices such as abortion and artificial contraception, she said. But, she added, “I’m mindful of how religion may be used by political actors and political elites, or by religious leaders acting in the political sphere, to advance a political agenda.”

“You have to give credence to religious claims,” Posner said, “but you want to recognize the impact of making those claims on other people who may not share the same religious tradition, or who share the tradition but do not interpret it the same way.” She cited Catholics who have no problem with Catholic universities and hospitals including contraception coverage in their healthcare plans, as required under the federal Affordable Care Act, even as the U.S. Catholic bishops strongly oppose any government mandate, in any form.

During the conversation that followed, Posner and Dreher spoke of the need for journalists to foster civil dialogue among their readers and look for common ground on contentious moral issues. Posner mentioned that she constantly highlights ways of accommodating religious objections to gay marriage (typically involving exemptions for clergy who refuse to perform the ceremonies). Dreher said he works to make his blog “a safe place for readers” to share their values and perspectives, and that often means policing the comments section. Oppenheimer dissented from this concern. He said that, as a reporter, “It’s not up to you to find common ground. What’s up to you is to write clearly and carefully in a way that tells [readers] true things about an important issue.” The Times writer also admitted to a “certain lack of interest in what readers think.”

The three journalists discussed whether there is a need for more reporting on the theology and basic beliefs of various faiths. Taking the affirmative position were Dreher (who lamented widespread religious illiteracy in the United States) and Posner (who pointed to widespread misconceptions about Islam in particular).

Oppenheimer offered a contrary take, asserting that the general public has little interest in theology. “The shallowness runs deep,” he said to laughter. At that point he turned to the audience of roughly 50, including no small representation of young men and women, and asked for a show of hands if theology affects their lives. Hands were raised almost universally. “Okay, not at BC,” Oppenheimer conceded. “But most people don’t care.”

Wolfe interjected, “Do you think you should just be writing about what people want?” Oppenheimer replied that readers shouldn’t be “spoon-fed beliefs,” either from their own faith or the faiths of others, by journalists.

The Q&A brought several millennials to their feet. A young woman who said she works for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts asked how to get press coverage of her church’s good works (the general advice was to become a steady, reliable source of information for writers). A young man sporting a yellow tie identified himself as a theology teacher at Boston College High School. He said he has found a community among fellow readers of Dreher’s blog, a degree of fellowship he has not experienced at his local church. “Sometimes I feel like my parish is online,” he said.